Normal graphics, created using the toolbox, appear in layers. An item in front will cover an item in back. Layering is determined by the position of the graphic in the state; those graphics that appear first in a state will appear behind graphics that that are written later in a state.
All graphic items that can be created and modified with the tool box begin with "GUI" as the first three letters of their name. These function all have the same set of initial parameters which provide a universal set of parameters for animating the objects. These functions generally have a large number of parameters and are intended for manipulation graphically from the tool box although they may be edited in text mode as well.
Layered (GUI) graphics functions have many parameters in common. The first 16 parameters are the same for every layered (GUI) graphics statement. They are:
• 1 - 4 Left, bottom, right and top reference coordinates
• 5 - 9 Left, bottom, right and top side scaling factor, whole scaling factor
• 10, 11 Trajectory and rotation
• Visibility
• Reserved for future use
• 14 - 16 Button combination, focus ID, focus trigger
Parameters 1 - 4 give the window coordinates of the statement. If the statement is not moved by animation, it will appear within these coordinates.
Parameters 5 - 9 accept Normalize values. These indicate the percentage each side should be moved toward its opposite side's reference coordinate, or the scaling factor for the image as a whole.
Parameters 10 and 11 define the animation of the object using Trajectory or Rotate functions.
Parameter 12 is a true/false expression. If true, the image is drawn; if false, the image is hidden.
Parameter 13 is not currently used and should be set to 0.
Parameters 14 - 16 define the ability of the object to be focused. The mouse button combination activates this graphic when pressed. The focus ID is a number which uniquely identifies this item. An object's focus ID number can be used to force the input focus to the object by using a NextFocusID statement. If the focus ID is 0, the item cannot be focused by either the keyboard or the mouse. Finally, the focus trigger, when true, signals the object to grab the input focus. If the focus ID is 0, this parameter is ignored.
The GUI functions are not the only layered graphics available, in text mode there are several simpler layered graphic functions available which begin with the letter "Z". These functions offer fewer parameters for ease in creating common graphic items such as bars and text.